Ganesh Chaturthi is a vibrant festival that is celebrated in almost every part of India. The festival involves grand processions, beautiful decorations and the installation of Lord Ganesha’s idols in pandals (temporary stages). However, over the years, the focus of the Ganesh festival has been more on the pomp and show of the festival rather than the celebration of the cultural heritage. As parents of future adults, it is crucial that you take notice of this shift and take active steps to right the wrongs of the past. While educating children on the significance of this special occasion, it’s important to communicate the need to tone down the extravagance and embrace an eco-friendly celebration.
Teaching preschoolers about nature and safeguarding natural resources is crucial for ensuring their future on the planet. Here are a few sustainable festive practices that you can implement to celebrate future festivities in an eco-friendly way with your children.
Be Mindful of Decorations
Lights and colours are the first things that come to our mind when we think of decorations during the festive season. The creativity that goes into making beautiful rangoli and the fun of illuminating houses with colourful lights with family sets the mood for the special occasion.
As parents, you don’t want your children to miss out on this wholesome experience, but, at the same time, you need to ensure that it is not at the cost of the planet’s well-being. Festivals provide a wonderful opportunity to show your kids that it’s possible to celebrate joyfully while also fulfilling our responsibility to nature.
Instead of choosing chemical colours for rangoli, you can opt for natural colours such as dry rice flour, turmeric, kumkum powder and coffee powder. You can also add flowers and leaves to enhance the vibrancy of your rangoli. Use garlands made of real flowers and not plastic ones. If not real flowers, you can add eco-friendly Ganpati decorations to your home using naturally biodegradable materials. For example, this year, as part of Mindseed’s Ganpati celebrations Play With Clay, our children and parents made Marigold flowers out of craft paper.
You can cut down on the consumption of electricity by limiting the number of lights and using them only when required. A combination of low-energy LED bulbs and diyas can be used to light up the spaces. Plus, diya-making is one of the most engaging nature-inspired activities for kids to be part of during the time of the festival. Creating clay diyas with your children will become one of those cherished memories from this festival that you will treasure for years to come. Allow them to bring out their creativity and paint the diyas using watercolours.
Reduce Pollution
The main goal of green Ganpati celebration ideas is to minimise pollution of nature’s valuable resources. The traditional idols of Ganpati which are made out of Plaster of Paris can pollute our water-bodies. Every year, lakhs of devotees head to seas and rivers to immerse Ganpati idols to mark the culmination of the Ganesh festival. Our water bodies are bleeding due to the pollution caused by this event. As we mentioned earlier, festivals are the best time to communicate the spirit and essence of festivals, and the significance of contributing to a cleaner environment for children. Set an example by choosing clay idols of Ganesh which do not pollute the water-bodies with toxins and harmful chemicals just like Mindseed Preschool did this year. At our Play with Clay, Ganesh Chaturthi event , we organised activities at Mindseed involving children, together with their families, making eco-friendly Ganpati idols using potter’s clay. These small clay idols were later taken to their homes, worshipped and then immersed using just a bucket of water. To add to these sweet memories, they also made chocolate modak with their parents’ help.
Playing music at low volume can help in reducing noise pollution. You can protect your ears without compromising on the festive spirit by opting for low-volume instruments such as harmonium and tabla.
Restrict the Number of Pandals
Festivals in Indian households are all about bringing people together and celebrating the togetherness of families, friends and communities. If we all agree on this idea of shared oneness, then families, friends and neighbourhoods should come together to celebrate, thus restricting the number of separate pandals/mandaps. Along with significantly reducing the impact on the environment, this eco-conscious choice will serve as a great example of sharing for the children.
In India, it is believed that children are a gift from God. In that case, it is only fitting that they are made aware of the significance of celebrating an ecologically sound festival and are taught the right ways of protecting Mother Earth.
